FOR FINANCIAL AID TO FIGHT HIS PROSECUTION IN ARKANSAS!

7 3/8 x 10 3/4, imprint.

Van Buren, Arkansas, Feb. 8th, 1894

To My Comrades, the Veteran Volunteers of the U.S.

Knowing that deep and sincere brotherly feeling that all old soldiers feel for another in distress, I feel that I would not be just either to you or myself should I fail to acquaint you with my present need. I entered the Union Army in July, 1861, at Circleville, Ohio, in Company A, 27th O.[hio] V.[eteran] V.[olunteer] I.[nfantry] Regiment, with Nelson Lutz Captain and J.W. Fuller Colonel, and participated in the battles of Island No. 10, Corinth, Rasaca, and Atlanta where I was shot through the thigh. I was Captain of the Company when I was mustered out on account of my wounds. In 1873, believing that the war was really over, and that a Union soldier could live in peace in the South, I came to Arkansas to make it my home. By hard struggles I achieved reasonable success. Soon fortune turned against me, and not being in accord with the dominant party, all the feeling being strong against me because I edited a Republican paper. I was reduced to poverty and with my poverty came false charges, trumped up by my enemies. I was arrested and thrown into prison, and when my attorney was attempting to make an arrangement for my bail the prosecuting attorney remarked that I should not give bail, but should be in jail until my trial. That if I should give bond in the cases now pending he would make ten additional charges against me and double the number as often as I gave bond. He kept his word and I was unjustly kept in jail for 117 days. Finally, however, through the efforts of some loyal friends, I was released under a heavy bond. I was entirely without funds with which to obtain counsel for my defense, and so ask a small contribution from my more fortunate comrades, in order that I may obtain justice and finally be restored to my liberty. More content. Bears two printed signatures of John M. Weaver, and also signed in print by seven prominent Arkansas men vouching for Weaver and echoing his appeal for financial aid from his comrades. Light age toning and wear. Excellent content.